The Wind Rises (2014)

The Wind Rises Synopsis

In The Wind Rises, Jiro (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni (voice of Stanley Tucci). Nearsighted from a young age and unable to be a pilot, Jiro joins a major Japanese engineering company in 1927 and becomes one of the world’s most innovative and accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, depicting key historical events, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan’s plunge into war. Jiro meets and falls in love with Nahoko (voice of Emily Blunt), and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo (voice of John Krasinski). Writer and director Hayao Miyazaki pays tribute to engineer Jiro Horikoshi and author Tatsuo Hori in this epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.

Looking to Pompeii, The Wind Rises and Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me for inspiration, we've pulled together a selection of sword and sandal adventures, animation for adults, and bittersweet but funny bio-docs.

Things keep snapping into place for The LEGO Movie. The animated feature dominated the box office for a third weekend in a row, adding $31 million to its impressive $183 million total. Very few animated films show that kind of staying power. The last animated film to do so well going into its third weekend was Shrek 2.

I don’t want to say that January 2014 was a bad month for cinema, but the last time I saw something that rotten, I was arrested for desecrating 13 cemeteries. Luckily, I got out on good behavior just long enough to celebrate with readers how superlative February’s theatrical releases will be in comparison.

And now the company he helped build, Studio Ghibli, will live on in his shadow, and they’ve set Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s When Marnie Was There as the first film to be released in the post-Miyazaki era, and is due in theaters sometime in the summer of 2014. Does anyone think a futuristic Platinum Dunes will ever get a “post-Michael Bay era” reference?

the world renowned animator turned his attentions away from fantastical fairy tales that have made him and living legend and to the life of aeronautics engineer Jiro Horikoshi, the man behind Japan's Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane, which was used as a dogfighter and later in kamikaze missions during World War II. Though Miyazaki has left behind his cavalcade of silly spirits and magical beasts, there is no shortage of wonder in The Wind Rises.

Following the animated feature’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Walt Disney Studios in conjunction with Studio Ghibli has unveiled its multi-part release plan for The Wind Rises.

Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animation giant whose name has become practically synonymous with the entire industry, is ready to hand the work down to a new generation of animators. During a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, according to The Los Angeles Times, Studio Ghibli President Koju Hoshino announced Miyaziki's retirement but declined to answer questions, saying that there would be more details at a press conference in Tokyo next week